Uniformity Labs introduces ultra-low porosity UniFuse 316L
January 3, 2023
Uniformity Labs, Fremont, California, USA, has announced the availability of its UniFuse 316L ultra-low porosity stainless steel powder. 316L is an austenitic stainless steel suited for demanding environments and applications, such as parts exposed to marine, pharmaceutical, or petrochemical processing, food preparation equipment, medical devices, surgical tooling, and consumer products such as jewellery. It is known for its corrosion resistance, high flexibility, and excellent mechanical properties at extreme temperatures.
The UniFuse 316L powder, along with optimised Additive Manufacturing processes, is reported to have already been used to create a number of components with great success. Developed in-house, Uniformity Labs’ UniFuse 316L 90 µm 400W Performance mechanical properties are said to be superior in UTS, YS, elongation, and density when compared to industry standard lower layer thickness parameter sets.
UniFuse 316L ultra-low porosity powder and High-Performance Scanning (HPS) are said to combine to achieve an approximately three-times faster build time when compared to lower layer thickness scan strategies. Compared to similar layer thickness builds, UniFuse 316L and HPS reputedly achieve far superior mechanical properties and build uniformity across the build platform with significantly increased throughput.
“The application of Uniformity 316L 90um stainless steel delivers mechanical excellence for our customers who require materials that perform to the highest standard in extreme conditions,” stated Adam Hopkins, founder and CEO, Uniformity. “Our powders deliver superior mechanical properties, surface finish, printing yield, and part reliability, and allow one machine to do the work of several.”
Mechanical and density properties of 316L are as follows:
- 90 µm layer thickness
- Up to three times the throughput @ 99.9%+ density (density coupons average 99.95%)
- Ultimate Tensile Strength (Rm z) – 675 ± 7 MPa
- Ultimate Tensile Strength (Rm xy) – 739 ± 7 MPa
- Yield Strength (Rm z) – 528 ± 8 Mpa
- Yield Strength (Rm xy) – 600 ± 7 MPa
- Fracture Elongation (Rm z) – 49.4 ± 2.2 %
- Fracture Elongation (Rm xy) – 53.5 ± 2.7 %
- Surface roughness in z direction (µm) 11.2 ± 1.8
All mechanical characteristics are typical mean values valid for the indicated density, but will vary from machine to machine. Roughness was measured according to microscopy in accordance with DIN EN ISO 4287.
